Reclaim Alabama: February 2023

FEBRUARY LIZARDS

from the January 25, 1925 Tuscaloosa News

from the July 2, 1885 Tuskaloosa Gazette

from the June 12, 1873 Tuskaloosa Gazette

from the February 1, 1902 Tuscaloosa Weekly Times

In January of 1818, the price of cotton dropped 25% in a single day. That was the end of "ALABAMA FEVER", the frenzied purchase of public land in Alabama Territory by land speculators. By the time Alabama became a state in 1819, the country was experiencing its first economic recession called THE PANIC OF 1819. By the time the country began to recover in 1821, Tuscaloosa's local economy was again devastated by a group of counterfeiters who showed up in town and started passing hundreds of fake bills. After their capture up in Walker County by a Tuscaloosa posse, their leader, Thomas Davis, was brought to Tuscaloosa and publicly hanged. This hanging was witnessed by many Indians who were amazed by Tuscaloosa's frontier justice. Three days before his hanging, Davis gave his confession and it was published in the November 26, 1822 WESTERN CAROLINIAN out of Salisbury. Here's the portion of Thomas Davis' confession which dealt with Tuscaloosa.

I'm going to include a few links to blog posts I have done about the 1887 panoramic map.

Key to Tuscaloosa Street names: 1. MLK, Jr. Blvd. - WEST MARGIN STREET

2. 31st Ave.- BEAVER STREET
3. 30th Ave.- DEER STREET
4. 29th Ave.- BROWN STREET
5. 28th Ave.- JACKSON STREET
6. 27th Ave.- FRANKLIN STREET
7. Lurleen B. Wallace, S.- JEFFERSON STREET
8. Lurleen B. Wallace, N.- WASHINGTON STREET
9. Greensboro Ave.- MARKET STREET
10. 23rd Ave.- MONROE STREET
11. 22nd Ave.- MADISON STREET
12. 21st Ave.- COLLEGE STREET
13. 20th Ave.- YORK STREET
14. 19th Ave.- BEAR STREET
15. Queen City Ave.- EAST MARGIN STREET (later, QUEEN CITY STREET)
16. 3rd St.- SPRING STREET
17. 4th St.- PINE STREET
18. University Boulevard- BROAD STREET
19. 6th St.- COTTON STREET
20. 7th St.- UNION STREET
21. 8th St.- PIKE STREET
22. 9th St.- LAUDERDALE STREET
23. Bryant Dr.- LAWRENCE STREET
24. 11th St.- OAK STREET
25. 12th St.- WALNUT STREET
26. 13th St.- LOCUST STREET
27. 14th St.- CHESTNUT STREET
28. 15th St.- SOUTH MARGIN STREET (later, CRESCENT CITY AVENUE)

The city hall & market house are marked "B" and and are at the location of the present-day BAMA Theater. The courthouse was located in the building labeled "A" and was located where the present-day Alston Building now stands.

This quote from the autobiography of James Robert Maxwell says that slaves received their punishment at the "calaboose". It was next to the City Hall and Meat Market(Bama Theater) on Market Street (Greensboro Ave.). The fire engine house was between the City Hall and the Episcopal Church on Cotton Street(6th Street). Here's James Robert Maxwell's description:"City Hall now was, at that day, the market house with butchers' stalls below, and rooms above for city offices. On the same northeast quarter square stood the city “calaboose,” a little brick cabin, isolated, perhaps twenty feet square, standing back from the sidewalk of Greensboro Avenue some twenty feet. It was in charge of the city marshal, at that date a Dr. Skinner; one of his duties was to apply the “cowhide” to the backs of negro servants who were sent to him for chastisement for small offenses not subject to punishment by law—petty thefts, fighting amongst fellow servants, disobedience, etc. A note from the owner to the marshal and he would string the hands tied together up to a little pulley till the weight of body would almost be taken off the floor, and thirty-nine lashes, at the outside, on the bare back would be applied. I believe the law prescribed forty, but, to be on safe side, they would leave off one. There was a little window in the back wall of “calaboose,” and the boys would get something to stand on, when they saw Dr. Skinner take in a patient, so they might witness the prescribed treatment. Next to the “calaboose,” in the southeast corner of that quarter square, was the office of Dr. William Leland. "

from the August 22, 1889 TUSKALOOSA GAZETTE

http://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2019/10/autobiography-of-james-robert-maxwell.html

Other links to my 1887 panoramic map comments:

1887 Panoramic Map decoded https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2019/10/this-second-image-from-1887-aerial-city.html?fbclid=IwAR3loLLWmZLZUZ7YU0hPeiYvd_DVPBPvogk3V1SCRFI0GokqJdy8xWrehdcJemison-

Jemison-Brandon-Waugh House on 1887 map https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-jemison-brandon--house-was.html?fbclid=IwAR1u6_n-28-WSFMoOUAR4c087e4m33cDXzDfqfLgoI_VeGukerVxyj2ylZo1887

Panoramic Map decoded https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-indian-queen-hotel-1828-1925-on.html?fbclid=IwAR0h8npUTn6fhWxkSL_Ia9C-ICJmfwZS93VrD8fco7RYJePaVNy4DnFJ-tM

1887 Panoramic Map decoded https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/06/saw-fitts-sign-on-jemison-wilbourne.html

Sewell Leach house https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post_19.html

Hornet Row https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post_9.html

Buck Carriage House https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/11/blog-post.html

1821 Tuscaloosa City Lots Auction https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/10/july-1820-land-office-was-established.html

Sewell Leach https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/03/sewell-leach-httpswww.html

Dearing Place https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/02/to-past-horizons-foster-cummings-circa.html

27th Avenue antebellum houses https://reclaimalabama.blogspot.com/2021/03/you-can-see-present-day-arts-n-autism.html

Tuscaloosa slaves

from the April 2, 1836 FLAG OF THE UNION

from the February 28, 1915 MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER

from the April 4, 1926 TUSCALOOSA NEWS

from the October 18, 1930 DOTHAN EAGLE

from the December 12, 1912 Montgomery Times

from the November 4, 1925 Tuscaloosa News

from the January 20, 1926 Tuscaloosa News

from the February 26, 1928 Montgomery Advertiser

from the December 19, 1928 Selma Times-Journal

from the June 28, 1912 Tuscaloosa News

from the June 10, 1874 Tuscaloosa Weekly Times

Laurie Bensberg, rest in peace

Friday night with Christopher, Carsen & Joe.

Sewell Leach house

page 180 of Matt Clinton's Scrapbook: "The Sims Female Academy was located north of Fourth (Pine) Street and west of Twenty-Second Avenue (Madison Street). In that block are lots 71, 72, 73, and 74. At the land sales of 1821 Sims bought (at auction) lots 72, 73 and 74, and James Irwin bought lot 71. In 1826 Irwin sold lot 71 to Sims. Therefore, in 1828, when the academy was established, Sims owned the entire block."

from 1887 city map

from the January 8, 1831 Alabama State Intelligencer (Tuscaloosa)

Thomas McAdory Owen comment

from the August 25, 1910 Tuscaloosa News

from a June 11, 1921 Selma Times Journal clipping about Colonel Sam Will John, a member of the University Corps of Cadets

from the August 30, 1830 Vermont Patriot and State Gazette (Montpelier)

from the August 19, 1916 Montgomery Advertiser

from Tuscaloosa: 200 Years In The Making by G. Ward Hubbs

page 53: "Thus the town was dark, quiet, and calm-with a single exception. Voices were heard and lights flickered at the Jemison Mansion down Greensboro Street beyond the business district. There, a wedding between Captain James Slaughter Carpenter and Miss Emily Alston Leach had just ended and the guests were dancing."

Page 95: "Although the war once again intervened, Jemison did succeed in lighting his own house with piped gas. And thus it was the brightly lit Jemison House, in an otherwise dark town, that attracted Croxton's raiders to the wedding party that fateful April 1865 night."

Sims War

January 6, 1892 Tuscaloosa Weekly Times

from the April 13, 1939 DEMOPOLIS TIMES

Hornet Row (northwest corner of 23rd Avenue (Monroe Street) and 6th Street (Cotton Street)
According to the 1986 Downtown Tuscaloosa Historic District Nomination Form for the National Register of Historic Places, "40. 2306-2308 6th St. (Ward Law Office/Sun Loan); c. 1894; these store fronts
show a later remodelling of the original cast-iron fronts. A column from
the earlier cast-iron facade is visible on the left (west) side of the
building."

from the February 9, 1941 Evansville Press

Hornet Row (northwest corner of 23rd Avenue (Monroe Street) and 6th Street (Cotton Street)

from the September 1, 1868 TUSCALOOSA INDEPENDENT MONITOR

from the December 29, 1868 TUSCALOOSA INDEPENDENT MONITOR

from the September 27, 1870 TUSCALOOSA INDEPENDENT MONITOR

from the January 5, 1876 TUSCALOOSA WEEKLY TIMES

from the January 8, 1880 TUSKALOOSA GAZETTE

from the January 14, 1904 TUSCALOOSA TIMES-GAZETTE

from the March 4, 1904 Tuscaloosa Times-Gazette

from the March 25, 1904 BIRMINGHAM NEWS

from the July 13, 1904 Tuscaloosa Times-Gazette

from the August 7, 1904 Tuscaloosa News

According to

"  Why  do  yon  mountain  turns  the  musing  eye, 
Whose  sun-bright  summit  mingles  with  the  sky — 
Why  do  the  cliffs  of  shadowy  tint  appear 
More  sweet  than  all  the  landscape  smiling  near. 
'Tis  distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view, 
And  robes  the  mountain  in  its  azure  hue." 

Thomas Campbell's Pleasures  of  Hope.

from the July 23, 1904 TUSCALOOSA TIMES-GAZETTE

William H. Jack

Jack County, Texas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_County,_Texas

Patrick C. Jack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_C._Jack

https://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/Library/Veteran_Bios/Bio_page/?id=442&army=Texian

JACK, WILLIAM HOUSTON -- Born April 12, 1806 in Wilkes County, Georgia. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1827 after which he studied and was admitted to the bar. He moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and there practiced his profession. In 1829 he was elected a member of the State Legislature. In 1830 he emigrated to Texas and settled at San Felipe. His brother Patrick C. Jack with others was thrown in prison at Anahuac by John Davis Bradburn, Commander of the post. William H. Jack and others went to their rescue and while at Turtle Bayou waiting for an answer to demand sent to Bradburn, Mr. Jack wrote the "Turtle Bayou Resolutions," signed by all present.

On August 15, 1835, Mr. Jack was elected a member of the Committee of Safety and Correspondence for the jurisdiction of Columbia (Brazoria). He received Bounty Certificate No. 996 for 320 acres of land, December 15, 1837 for serving in the army from March 1 to May 30, 1836.

He was a member of Captain William H. Patton's Columbia Company at San Jacinto and on December 19, 1838 was issued Donation Certificate No. 707 for 640 acres of land for having participated in the battle.

Mr. Jack was appointed Secretary of State by President Burnet serving until in October, 1836. He represented Brazoria County in the House of Representatives of the First, Fourth and Eighth Congresses of the Republic and in the Senate of the Sixth and Seventh. In 1842 he participated in the Vasquez Campaign.

Senator Jack died August 20, 1844 at the residence of Hiram G. Runnels, former Governor of Mississippi, in Brazoria County, of yellow fever. His remains and those of his brothers, Spencer and Patrick C. Jack, were later moved to Galveston and reinterred in Lack View Cemetery.

Jack County was named in honor of William H. and Patrick C. Jack.

Senator William H. Jack was married to Laura Harrison, daughter of Isham Harrison of Mississippi. Their children were: Hally Patrick, who married William Pitt Ballenger on April 30, 1850; Laura, who married Guy Morrison Bryan; and Thomas McKinney Jack, who married Nannie Knox.

To the natural man untainted with the greed of gain, the distant past is full of the spirit of poetry and fine romance; the present is raw and prosaic.

The average American, engrossed in all his thoughts of commercialism, is apt to neglect, even if he does not sneer at the memories and traditions of the glorified past. The average American is missing in this way much of the happiness that naturally belongs to man on this side of the grave.

Of many events connected with the early history of Tuscaloosa only vague tradition remains. The twilight of uncertainty is already casting its shadow over some things that yet linger in the memory of the oldest living inhabitants. Presently the night of oblivion will come down and hide what is left. from the July 23, 1904 TUSCALOOSA TIMES-GAZETTE

J.A. Bozman tribute

from the December 23, 1903 TUSCALOOSA NEWS

from the December 12, 1903 TUSCALOOSA NEWS

from the March 26, 1903 FORT SMITH TIMES

from the August 20, 1891 Tuskaloosa Gazette

"From the terrible conditions of the present I have turned back to the past, for a little joy and a great deliverance." Violet Tweedale

1904: The Tuscaloosa City Council condemned "the time-smitten range of buildings known as Hornet's Row."

To the natural man untainted with the greed of gain, the distant past is full of the spirit of poetry and fine romance; the present is raw and prosaic.

The average American, engrossed in all his thoughts of commercialism, is apt to neglect, even if he does not sneer at the memories and traditions of the glorified past. The average American is missing in this way much of the happiness that naturally belongs to man on this side of the grave.

Of the many events connected with the early history of Tuscaloosa only vague tradition remains. The twilight of uncertainty is already casting its shadow over some things that yet linger in the memory of the oldest living inhabitants. Presently the night of oblivion will come down and hide what is left.

"They were bent not on the good of society but on the gratification of the greed of gain that consumed their sordid souls."